“Whether I am walking a path I know well or exploring a new location, my approach is the same. I can’t help but notice the detail: marks on the path; texture on a leaf; the range of colours on a stem where new wood joins to old; the form of buds or seeds; the change in tone where dampness has dried; a small object either discarded, dropped or lost. As I write the winter rain is hitting my window and the light is fading fast. The particular details that I might pick out on a walk today will be different to those that catch my eye at other times of year. But all are just as relevant for recording and all can spark creative thoughts and lead on to experiments in the studio. As the year turns I am looking forward to adventures to come in 2016. One of those will be my workshop at Masseria della Zingara: exploring this beautiful place as a group, recording what we see and find, using those starting points to make beautiful and personal records of our time there. With such miserable weather at home the thought of a few spring days in Italy seem very attractive indeed!

The images here were taken in the UK last summer when I taught this same course. Each time and location the detail of what we find will be different but that shared experience of place and of discovery should be just as special.